Touhou 13 trial gameplay

[blackrider19]

Through playing the recently released trial of Touhou 13 (Ten Desires), I found that there are several significant gameplay changes.

First of all, the 'divine spirits' mainly stay at the top of the screen, including life and bomb spirits, which requires players to rush straight into the boss and collect them quickly. It seems to be a method which prevents players from cowardly hiding at the bottom of the screen, although it poses quite alot of dangers,,,

Also, NO DEATHBOMB!!! :ohdear:

I don't know whether this is a glitch or not but apparently when the player bombs during a spell card, at the end of the bomb, the boss suddenly regains ALOT of health, even surpassing the original maximum health... (observed during the zombie youkai fight, not sure about the other bosses). Also, if a boss declares a spell card during your 'trance mode', you seem to fail the card straight away!! 0_0

EDIT: i realised that that's miyako's ability, so the above point is invalid. So how exactly do we capture those desire-based spell cards?

Lets discuss the game mechanics here, need some advise
(also, what do you guys think of the music)

[Zengeku]

My opinion of the game is quite positive. Naturally, we have yet to see how things turn out in the full version, wether or not the final stages are any good, but i'm pretty entertained by it. Except for the fact that i've already run out of things to do with it. 

Fun boss patterns and different system makes it more unique without being annoying like the UFO's and their suddenly changing colors right as i pick them up shenanigans. Yuyuko is a lovely stage 1 boss. She has cool attacks that are fun to dodge. Stage 2 boss has an interesting gimmick with her dimensional borders and such. Stage 3... I don't really appreciate her spells much right now due to the absorbing spirits for health thing. However, her non-spells are very cool with a lot of bullets and stuff. My favorite boss in this game is probably Stage 2 but Yuyuko is a sharp contester.

As for the music. Its pretty good. I really like the Stage 3 music. And Stage 2 music isn't bad either. Neither are the boss tracks. I like how the music is actually eastern this time.

I don't know whether this is a glitch or not but apparently when the player bombs during a spell card, at the end of the bomb, the boss suddenly regains ALOT of health, even surpassing the original maximum health... (observed during the zombie youkai fight, not sure about the other bosses). Also, if a boss declares a spell card during your 'trance mode', you seem to fail the card straight away!! 0_0

Not a glitch. The boss heals herself utilizing the spirits.

[Drake]

First of all, the 'divine spirits' mainly stay at the top of the screen, including life and bomb spirits, which requires players to rush straight into the boss and collect them quickly. It seems to be a method which prevents players from cowardly hiding at the bottom of the screen, but this caused several problems, such as when rushing up to collect a life/bomb spirit, a random fairy might rush in and kill you -.-

This is your problem dude, practice and fix it.

Also, NO DEATHBOMB!!!

Deathbomb seems to be disabled when you have one Spirit gauge available(i.e. when you will deathtrance). I guess it "encourages" bombing, but really I hope he fixes the priority as well.

I don't know whether this is a glitch or not but apparently when the player bombs during a spell card, at the end of the bomb, the boss suddenly regains ALOT of health, even surpassing the original maximum health... (observed during the zombie youkai fight, not sure about the other bosses). Also, if a boss declares a spell card during your 'trance mode', you seem to fail the card straight away!! 0_0

How do you not notice Miyako sucking in a bunch of spirits.

[Yuyuko Yakumo]

It might just be me, but I have a tough time using Youmu as a character. I just can't get used to her focus being a charge up shot.

Music is terrific; catchy like always.

[Berzul]

Youmu op damage, if you can do it correctly, by far the most damage in the game.

Her mechanic however.... you can get used to the focusing and releasing, but there is one problem. You can't focus charge while firing "the sword". You still move slower, but you won't charge. That's kinda... a cooldown for her honestly... The sword do not level up with power, but range. And... still on higher levels it has a higher cooldown, meaning it will deal less damage per second. That really does not mean it's more powerful.. since bosses varies on spellcards, some you can just close up, and spam sword, some you must take your time. Overall.. that really bugs me...

Another thing.. you can focus sword before a boss fight if you just hold it, before dialogue, just press ctrl, to skip text.

Also.. with Trance/hyper mode, you tend to keep it to the very last second, which is fine... but you also should be able to cancel it out, if you get hit by a random bullet and don't really want to waste it.. maybe.. But there is also the matter if you lose bombs, or don't when you die?

Also scoring lifes...? Much much less extra lifes than before, seeing how you can only get one in the first stages, it's kinda strange to waste Trance on something like that, just to get 2 times the pieces, when you can use it to not lose a life at all....

[SAS]

Lunatic clear etc.
Scoring is kinda fun. Might try to do actual scoring runs.

Also, NO DEATHBOMB!!! :ohdear:

Man up. Bomb BEFORE getting hit.

Not a glitch. The boss heals herself utilizing the spirits.

To be honest, that makes the boss unnecessarily long-lasting.

[Dusknoir]

I'm *almost* sure I managed to deathbomb once... If the spirit gauge is empty, you won't get the Trance mode, so you should be able do deathbomb, that's logical imo, but maybe I'm mistaken. =x

[Drake]

That's how it currently works, yes.

[Shimatora]

Really enjoying this game so far - the spirit mechanic is rather entertaining. I dislike how long the Stage 3 boss lasts (her name completely slips my mind right now..), her ability to heal herself with spirits is kind of annoying.

 

To be honest, that makes the boss unnecessarily long-lasting.

Completely agree.

[Ghaleon]

Just grab the spirits. Not doing so and complaining about fight length is like ignoring all the point items in pcb/in and complaining the game is too stingy on extends.

[Shimatora]

Just grab the spirits. Not doing so and complaining about fight length is like ignoring all the point items in pcb/in and complaining the game is too stingy on extends.

Don't think there's any other way. I'll get used to it, heck, may even come to love it. Time will tell!

[Yuyuko Yakumo]

I guess that makes sense. The boss did feel pretty easy without that.

[NEETori]

I like the surprise in stage 3

That being said, I like the shot mechanics, since it's a nice throwback to IN.
Also, I think Marisa and Sanae are going to dominate if the shots don't get changed too much.  Considering the spirit mechanics emphasize aggressive in-your-face style shooting, Sanae, focused or not, will maim bosses with her ridiculous power up close.  That being said, Youmu has the potential to either be extremely awesome or end up as the next Alice.

Also, possible Malice Cannon with Marisa, but that needs testing.

[blackrider19]

The encouraged 'aggressive style' seems more fun, but I find that we have to somewhat memorise the stages to actively do so.
Also, Miyako's last spell card seems to be impossible to capture when using Reimu. The timer runs out before her health is even half even though I was blasting in her face with 3.00 power. Sanae seems to be the easiest to use by far, having a powerful spread attack and a decent concentrated attack. Reimu seems to have a disadvantage when going up for the spirits, as the homing amulets aren't that good, still the changes made to her makes her even more fun to play.

It seems that more tactics are to be used due to the trance mode thing, but I guess that makes it more interesting that just a normal touhou game. Miyako's danmaku... those danmaku brings nightmares. :ohdear: And guess we would become more used to that in the long run, I have a feeling the later bosses are gonna be more awesome (e.g. necromancer loli)

I like the surprise in stage 3

Kogasa's now smarter and knows how to scare us pandemonium style

[blackrider19]

This is your problem dude, practice and fix it.

How do you not notice Miyako sucking in a bunch of spirits.

Ahhh, pardon me, I probably just another 14 year old brat with reckless postings 

As for the music. Its pretty good. I really like the Stage 3 music. And Stage 2 music isn't bad either. Neither are the boss tracks. I like how the music is actually eastern this time.

I find Miyako's theme and the stage 1 theme the best thus far. Overall, the music has been fairly well written, although I kind of dislike the similarity between Yuyuko's theme and Magus Night (and some FW music), but still it sounds cool and I guess eventually I'll love it like Magus Night. Really interested it the soundtrack when the actual game comes out, it's normally the music in the later stages that capture most of my attention 

[sumisumi]

Yoshika's midspells are beastly.  Ichirin's demo midspells were fast, but still nowhere near as hard as these.
I still haven't managed to capture either of her healing spells, either.  I should try them on an easier difficulty.
Also about Yoshika, can't wait until an rpg is released with her in it.  That will be badass.

It is really cool that you get to go to Hakugyoukuro and Myouren Temple, too.  I love the transition there, and the bosses are great.
Especially Yuyuko.  With a similiar layout to Satori, she makes for a really badass first boss.

The story is great too.
It seems Yoshika's master was defeated by Hijiri long ago.  I'm hoping for a really great rivalry, when they're both up and revived again.

[NEETori]

Nope, no Malice Cannon.

Also - Youmu's trance is horrendously strong, while Sanae's is fairly weak.  Or I'm crazy.  But if I'm not, then there's some balance in the works.

[Lawence Codye]

I rather enjoyed playing this trial version of Touhou 13...

I noticed some things though while I was playing the game;

1. After playing through the game once or so many times, it seems like the ability to skip the dialog & your ability to even bomb is completely disabled for some reason & requires quitting the application & restarting it again...

2. The bosses have fantastic attacks this time around in general from what I've seen anyway from the 3 stages in the Demo...

3. The character's Shot Types from the previous game or games seem to be working together this time around which I like for some reason...

4. Youmu's Style is awesome to say the least & thus makes her the character I enjoy using the most with Marisa coming in close second...

5. The artwork looks better I guess then before, don't know why I am mentioning this at all but still...

6. Lastly, the Stage 3 boss seems to during her later attacks anyway, regenerate her health from the souls or whatever they are called that you would normally be the 1 collecting & during 1 Spell Card, she actually purposely sends them out in the bunches & if you aren't able to stop them all from getting to her, there is no possible way of clearing it in time which is like, oh well as I did manage to do it at least once after finding this out though it took me a few tries or so to catch on to it...

& yes I know some of the things were mentioned in previous post but I still needed to mention them myself, anywho, can't wait until the problems are handled to the best of ability & the full version of this game is finally released :3 ...

[NEETori]

Crackpot theory:  We might be getting two more characters in the full game.  Reasoning - the Windows series of games has been pretty good with giving us 6 different shot types (exceptions are EoSD, IN and PoFV, and the gaiden games).  Of course, there's really not much you can do without some overlapping.  Reimu gives us homing and balance, Marisa gives us forward focus and moar forward focus, Sanae gives us spread and balance, and Youmu is the resident gimmick shot.   

Is it just me, or are Miyako's kunai bursts EXTREMELY dense, especially for Easy Modo?

[CK Crash]

Is it just me, or are Miyako's kunai bursts EXTREMELY dense, especially for Easy Modo?

They're very very slow and you can completely macrododge much of her downward waves. On higher difficulties when the random ones are thrown in, it becomes much more threatening.

[Atfyntify]

hey err......guys do you know what exactly that trance mode is? I've seen neoseekerdark's let's play of it and  was wondering why do you die? and why death bombing disabled sometimes? I think I'll need to know the gameplay before I buy it.

[sumisumi]

hey err......guys do you know what exactly that trance mode is? I've seen neoseekerdark's let's play of it and  was wondering why do you die? and why death bombing disabled sometimes? I think I'll need to know the gameplay before I buy it.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Ten_Desires

Is it just me, or are Miyako's kunai bursts EXTREMELY dense, especially for Easy Modo?

Wait, there are people who actually play easy mode?  I thought it was just a joke. >_>

You should see Yoshika's mountains of knives on lunatic.  It's great.
We haven'd had a 'mountains of knives' character in a long time, so I quite like her.

[Drake]

hey err......guys do you know what exactly that trance mode is? I've seen neoseekerdark's let's play of it and  was wondering why do you die? and why death bombing disabled sometimes? I think I'll need to know the gameplay before I buy it.

gdi

The demo is free. ZUN is selling it at May Reitaisai to raise funds for earthquake victims as well.

...And it should be obvious enough that he gets hit and trance auto-activates. That very thing is what disables deathbombs.

[Nat Tea]

dumb question

if i'm on my last life and a bullet slams into me during the final spellcard of a boss activating my trance mode, do i still get the stage bonus if i defeat the boss before trance mode ends?

[Drake]

No. You get the stage bonus after the endstage dialogue, which is way after getting hit and activating trance mode. Regardless, all dialogue scenes end trance mode immediately just as UFOs all exploded, so you just die.

[sumisumi]

Funny that Zun said that he would try to have simpler mechanics this time around.
In my opinion UFO's mechanics were simpler.

[Aba Matindesu!]

Also, possible Malice Cannon with Marisa, but that needs testing.

Nope, state update mechanics have changed since MoF. (that is, changes are no longer gradual, but immediate)

[Berzul]

Full power, and there are still red powerups dropping... cool

[nintendonut888]

Is it just me, or are the hitboxes for all non-Reimu characters smaller than in past games? When I look at the dodges I make during Yoshika's second spell card, especially at 11:54, I feel like I'm playing Reimu instead of fatty Marisa. Could it be ZUN finally removed hitbox differences? :O

[Fightest]

Why does ZUN keep increasing the difficulty level? This is far harder than PCB.